Trouble on the Half Shell is the thirteenth episode in the second season of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
Main Characters[]
The main characters featured in this episode are:
- Kwame
- Wheeler
- Linka
- Gi
- Ma-Ti
- Captain Planet
- Gaia
- Shawn
- Shelley
- Hoggish Greedly
- Verminous Skumm
Plot Synopsis[]
When Hoggish Greedly and Verminous Skumm are shipwrecked on the Galapagos Islands, their mutant rats, as well as appetite for tortoise eggs cause havoc to the island's native species. With the help of a scientist's robot JASON, the Planeteers set out to save the giant tortoise population from extinction.
Episode Summary[]
During a boating voyage, Hoggish Greedly and Verminous Skumm are thrown off course, as well as running low on supplies. When Greedly accidently knocks a mutagenic toxin over Skumm's rats, they grew into giant forms, but still very obedient to Skumm. Meanwhile, the Planeteers are at the museum for a demonstration of JASON, a camera-operated robot that can observe any ecosystem and transmit the data to its own homebase. After crashlanding on the Galapagos Islands, Greedly, Skumm, and the enlarged rats were looking for something to eat. So, they plan to find endangered land tortoise eggs, feast on them, and fill their appetites. But, when the Planeteers see the eggs being poached, they arrive in their Geo-Cruiser to rescue them. They even summon Captain Planet to help them stop the two Eco-Villains, until Greedly and Skumm fire toxin-soaked eggs at him so he will weaken. While the other Planeteers try to save the eggs, Wheeler gave the mutant rats the rest of his leftover pizzas. The pizzas somehow counteract the toxic effects, reverse the giant rats' mutation, and change them back to normal. With help for JASON and a giant land tortoise named Shelley, Planet gains consciousness, flies up, and restores power to the Planeteers' rings. Next, they follow those two to a dormant inactive volcano via JASON's homing device, where Greedly is going to drop his toxin-coated eggs onto them. Then, he trips on the ground, gets himself splattered, and mutates into a gargantuan pig-like monster. The Planeteers summon Planet again for a rematch with the two Eco-Villains. He dodges the now-gigantic Greedly's fists, picks him up, carries Skumm, and dumps them on a bare rock. The Planeteers safeguard the eggs, watch them hatch, and move all the rats to a different environment. Back on the islet, Greedly attempts to catch Skumm and eat him while being stranded.
Planeteer Alerts[]
- First Planeteer Alert
Gaia: Habitats, the homes of plants and animals evolve over thousands of years.
Linka: But if new species are brought in, the habitats can be destroyed practically overnight!
Ma-Ti: A small addition can change the balace of nature forever.
Wheeler: So when you go on a trip, be sure not to carry any plants or animals that might mess up the habitat.
Captain Planet: You can protect the diversity of life which gives our world its beauty. The power is yours!
- Second Planeteer Alert
Kwame: Don't they see all that trash they are leaving behind?
Gi: Why don't they pick it up?
Captain Planet: Because they think someone else will do it.
Linka: Now they know that trash does not go away by itself.
Captain Planet: We all have to do our part.
Ma-Ti: Do not be part of the pollution.
Kwame: Be part of the solution.
Wheeler: When it's trash time, can it.
Captain Planet: The power is yours!
Significant Moments and Facts[]
- Wheeler and Captain Planet make subtle references to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Gaia explains to the Planeteers that islands have very fragile ecosystems and many of them including the Galapagos have already suffered ecological damage due to introduced species. When species are introduced to habitats they're not native to, they can wreck serious havoc on the habitats' ecosystems. The dodo, a stuffed specimen of which is featured in the museum's extinct species exhibit alongside others including the mammoth, quagga, thylacine, and Toolache wallaby, suffered a similar fate: its extinction (which occurred the late 1600s) is due to overhunting and exotic pests, such as pigs and rats, that were brought to Mauritius, the island where this large, flightless relative of the pigeons lived.
Trivia[]
- Hoggish Greedly has been making a few egg-related puns in this episode.
- Wheeler makes a subtle reference to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by saying "Turtles, Pizza, must be something subliminal"
Quotes[]
- Verminous Skumm: (of Greedly) Old Bacon Breath started breakfast without us!
- Captain Planet: In cartoons, toxic waste turns you into a superhero. Too bad real life's not like that.
- Linka: [kisses Wheeler for changing the rats back to normal] There may be hope for you yet Wheeler!
- Wheeler: Oh yeah? [puts his arm around her waist]
- Linka: I said hope not fantasy.
Gallery[]
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